MORGANTON

city, seat of Burke county, west-central North Carolina, U.S. It lies 50 miles (80 km) east-northeast of Asheville, on the Catawba River. It is a manufacturing city, producing mainly furniture, textiles, shoes, chemicals, electronics, and clothing. In 1893 the county drew a group of Waldenses, religious refugees from the French-Italian Alps, whose descendants, in mid-August, hold an annual festival in nearby Valdese. Inc. 1784. Pop. (1990) city, 15,085; Hickory-Morganton MSA, 221,700.